Mesa retains Bell

Patrick Laverty

Fatigued from a long game and obviously worried about a teammate

taken to the hospital, the meaning of its third straight victory in

the Battle for the Bell wasn’t lost on the Costa Mesa High football

players.

“Where’s that bell, baby,” Brett Via said as he came streaking out

of the Mustangs’ postgame huddle headed for midfield and the

presentation of the bell.

Costa Mesa retained possession of the prize in the annual contest

between Estancia and the Mustangs through thorough domination,

pounding the Eagles to the tune of a 41-0 victory Thursday at Orange

Coast College.

The lopsided win continued the recent trend in a series, which

Estancia (3-5, 1-4 in the Golden West League) still leads, 20-16-1.

The Mustangs (5-3, 2-2) have now won the last three Bell contests by

a combined score of 103-6. The last two games have each finished

41-0.

“This is the game I’ve been waiting for my whole life,” Costa Mesa

senior Junior Epenesa said. “This is the game I’ve been waiting for,

my senior year.”

But that game was interrupted for 25 minutes early in the fourth

quarter when Mustangs junior backup linebacker Isaac Tsavahidis went

down with a leg injury that required paramedic attention. The injury

appeared to be to his lower left leg. The bone was sticking out of

the leg. Costa Mesa Coach Dave Perkins said it might have been a

compound fracture.

The injury happened when Tsavahidis took a hit as Eagles tailback

David Moreno broke off a 54-yard run. Tsavahidis went down right in

front of the Estancia sideline and Eagles Coach Craig Fertig.

“I was the first guy there,” Fertig said. “I could see it. I just

told him to stay down and take some breaths.”

The injury provided a long breather for both teams. But Costa

Mesa, which led, 41-0, came back fired up in hopes of maintaining its

shutout. Moreno’s run, which was more offense that Estancia came up

with the rest of the night combined, gave the Eagles their best

scoring chance, first-and-10 on the Mustangs’ 11-yard line.

“That scared us,” Epenesa said. “But after that happened to

[Tsavahidis] it pumped us up. We wanted to get the shutout.”

Costa Mesa’s defense, which was dominant all night, did just that,

pushing the Eagles backward before Jeff Waldron intercepted a

fourth-down pass.

With the defense limiting Estancia to 44 yards in the entire game

with the exception of Moreno’s run and giving the offense good field

position throughout the night, Costa Mesa piled up six rushing

touchdowns. Epenesa, Omar Ruiz and Qualic Vargas each ran for two

scores as the Mustangs rushed for 268 yards, with Ruiz leading the

team with 137.

“We try to get our running backs 300 yards a game,” Costa Mesa

senior center Luke Sapolu said. “That’s our goal. We want to average

that.”

Epenesa got a handful of early carries, scoring on a 14-yard run

in the first quarter and a 9-yard run with 1:16 remaining in the

first half.

“When my coach told me I was going to get the ball I was happy

because I knew our lineman were going to get the blocks,” Epenesa

said.

After an odd week, in which practices were limited because of the

poor air quality as a result of the fires, Perkins was happy with the

way his team responded in the first of three must-win situations.

“I think it kind of helped us refocus,” Perkins said.

That focus must stay in place with games remaining against

Westminster and Santa Ana if the Mustangs hope to reach the playoffs.

“We just need to keep doing what we did in this game and we’ll

make the playoffs,” Sapolu said.

The Mustangs attacked early, going for a fake punt on the first

series after a nice defensive stand by Estancia. Gary Gonzalez, who

called the fake punt, hit Al Rodriguez for a 44-yard completion.

Though a field goal try later in the drive failed, the fake punt gave

Costa Mesa the field-position advantage early in the game.

Estancia’s lone scoring opportunity in the first half came after

Geo Macias intercepted a halfback pass and returned it 50 yards to

the Mustangs’ 27-yard line with 4:33 remaining. Trailing, 14-0, the

Eagles had a chance to make a game of it going into halftime. But

Costa Mesa’s defense, stiff as ever, forced a loss of 7 yards on

first down and the Eagles were eventually forced to punt.

The Mustangs put things away before halftime, on touchdown runs by

Epenesa and Ruiz in the final 1:16 of the second quarter. The latter

was set up by on onside kick, recovered by Jasper Seewat.